Little Lion Man
by SpobyClaceFosterson
Summary: Tumblr prompt. More of a drabble. "It was not your fault, but mine... And it was your heart on the line... I really f*cked it up this time, didn't I, my dear?"


The ringing of his cell phone woke Toby up from his fitful sleep.

Of course, he knew who was calling him. For some reason Em's incessant phone calls had suddenly ceased.

Spencer hadn't tried once since she slapped him in her kitchen on their anniversary.

Not that he blamed her.

"What?" He answered with a barely audible grunt.

"I need to see you. When can I expect you?"

Toby sighed. _Of course she needs me. She knows I've got nothing left to distract me._

"Give me an hour, Mona."

Snapping his phone shut, Toby set an alarm to wake him in a half an hour and rolled over to try and get a little more rest. The only reason Mona wanted a time was to try and figure out where he was coming from. Her spies had yet to find him here and she wanted to see how long the drive should take him.

Mona expected everyone to leave when called.

Toby just wanted her to think he was farther away than he was to get some leg up on her. Of course, he'd have to bring everything with him. He couldn't come back here after he met with her because, inevitably, someone would follow him back and he needed to have a few places she didn't know about.

Maybe he'd head back to the Rosewood Motor Court. He had some pretty fond memories there and Mona already knew about it. She'd found him there the day after Spencer saw the uniform for his night job.

The alarm sounded faster than the bed's occupant would have liked. Time to don that treacherous uniform and head to the new Mobile Lair.

Pulling on his shoes and taking his time to tie them, Toby thought back to his anniversary again. He had peeked in the drawer he'd been trying to keep those memories in and now the wind was slamming it open, everything spilling out.

Toby could almost appreciate his luck having Mrs. Hastings come home before Spencer could begin a reenactment of the Spanish Inquisition. Or hit it him some more. Not that he blamed her, obviously. He wished she had hit him more. Maybe it would have made the emotional pain a little less noticeable. Not that the sting from the one slap she did get in did much to lessen the blows of realization that his relationship was over.

* * *

"Your girlfriend had an interesting night last night."

Toby froze. He'd barely made it from the camper's door to his current seat before Mona had so giddily reported this. The happier she was, the worse off Spencer and the girls were. This couldn't be good.

"What are you talking about, Mona? What did you do?" Doing his level best to seem only impatient and not angry, Toby glared at her. Just because he pretended to believe in her twisted views doesn't mean she had any illusions of him actually liking her.

The dark haired demon giggled like they were in school gossiping about who liked who. This was all just a big game for Mona and Toby was losing.

"I just left some breadcrumbs. _Spencer_ chose to follow them. She didn't exactly find her way home, though."

_Why not? _Toby thought. _Is she hurt? What did you _**do **_to her?!_

"What did you do, Mona?" Toby's voice was steadily rising, only spurring on Mona's cruel joy further.

The only relief Toby had was that Spencer had to be alive. Red Coat and the rest of her minions had too much fun torturing the girls to end it just yet. They would plan something much bigger and Toby would hear snippets through the A – Grapevine.

"Emily's not calling you anymore, is she? I'm sure Spencer hasn't gotten the news to her from Radley, but Red Coat left her a little goody bag, anyway."

**Radley? **This was worse than he thought.

"The news of _what,_ Mona? Get on with it, I've got better things to be doing."

He didn't. But, the more emotional he got, the more suspicious _she_ did. He couldn't have that.

"Of your unfortunate demise."

Not showing his emotions after hearing that had to be one of the hardest things he'd ever done. She'd faked his death and Spencer believed it. Which didn't surprise him. Mona could make even the most outlandish scenario not only seem possible, but convince someone it was the truth.

And it had put Spencer in Radley.

_At least you know she still loves you_, Toby's small, selfish part of his brain told him.

It was a constant battle between him and that selfish part. It hurt him that Spencer was hurting and while even the selfish part of him hated that, he was still relieved in a small way that it was true that she must still be fighting feelings for him if his "death" had any kind of affect on her.

The battle continued to rage inside of his head as he finished up with Mona and headed to the Rosewood Motor Court. He hated being at war with himself like this, but ever since he'd joined Mona's sadistic little breakfast club, he'd gotten used to the feelings.

Yes, he was doing this to _protect _Spencer, but wasn't he essentially protecting her from **himself?**

Yes, he loved her, but would she still believe that when she inevitably found out?

Yes, she was better off without him, but he didn't want to be without **her.**

All those questions and more had floated through his brain from day one and some of them had been answered when his ever intelligent girlfriend did find out. But, it had also raised more.

Did she still love him?

Toby guessed now he knew the answer to that one.

But, if this was the way he had to find out about her lingering feelings, he didn't want to know.


End file.
